1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information recording medium, information recording/reproducing apparatus and information management method and can be effectively applied to a write-once type recordable optical disk and a recording/reproducing apparatus thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a technique relating to a write-once type recordable optical disk and a recording/reproducing apparatus thereof, the technique described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. H5-224761 is provided. In this case, as a method for managing recording data, a technique for providing a delete flag on the optical disk and making it possible to simulatively delete data is disclosed. With the above technique, when it is desired to inhibit a data read operation, a delete flag is written into a header information area containing the above data. Then, if the delete flag in the header information is detect at data read time, the process of reading data in a file containing the delete flag is inhibited.
However, in the above prior art technique, data recorded on the optical disk actually remains on the disk even after erasing. Therefore, if an apparatus which is configured to ignore the delete flag is used, recorded data can be read and it is difficult to use the optical disk as a medium on which data of confidential documents and the like is written.